Scientists find only one true wolf species in North America 

How many species of wolves live in America? A new study suggests there is just one.

The group analyzed the genomes of 12 pure gray wolves from areas with no coyotes, three coyotes from areas where there were no gray wolves, as well as six eastern wolves and three red wolves. They were looking for any mysterious genetic material that was not gray wolf or coyote, and could be uniquely considered red wolf or eastern wolf.

“In humans from Eurasia you can pick up 1-4% Neanderthal DNA — in the red and eastern wolves we thought we might find 20-30% of genes that would be Neanderthal-like,” Wayne said.

Instead, he said, the group found almost nothing that could not be explained as coming from coyotes or gray wolves.

“There is no evidence for distinct eastern or red wolf species,” he said. “So the idea that the eastern wolf historically inhabited the Great Lakes area is wrong.”

Wayne said it wasn’t until the 1920s that coyotes even reached the Great Lakes area and began to interbreed with a dwindling gray wolf population — resulting in the hybrid animal known as the eastern wolf.

A similar process happened in the American South hundreds of years earlier, resulting in the red wolf.

Wayne hopes his team’s findings will ensure that the gray wolf can continue to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. He said a decision on that from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could come as early as this fall.

Source: Scientists find only one true wolf species in North America – LA Times